


Misplaced and Misspoken

by TheFandomLesbian



Series: Spencer's Raulson One-Shots [50]
Category: American Horror Story, American Horror Story: Apocalypse, American Horror Story: Coven
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Not Season 8 compliant, foxxay - Freeform, raulson - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:41:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23188681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFandomLesbian/pseuds/TheFandomLesbian
Summary: In a bar, a woman inadvertently asks Misty an offensive question about Cordelia. She has to cope with the aftermath.
Relationships: Misty Day/Cordelia Foxx | Cordelia Goode
Series: Spencer's Raulson One-Shots [50]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1214643
Comments: 5
Kudos: 76





	Misplaced and Misspoken

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Thesupremebitchwitch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thesupremebitchwitch/gifts).



> For a Foxxay dialogue prompt: "Just talk to me."

The bar thrummed with life around Misty and Cordelia, where they sat off in a corner away from the rest of the girls. It was Zoe’s twenty-first, and they’d all decided to celebrate at the gay bar. Misty leaned back, sipping a fruity blue cocktail. “This is pretty good,” she complimented as she stared across the table at Cordelia, who used the dim light to squint down at a book. “Oh, c’mon. I know this isn’t your idea of a good time, but you could at least  _ pretend _ to enjoy it.” Cordelia grunted in an acknowledgement. Misty reached to take the book away from her and closed it. 

Cordelia yelped a protest. “I didn’t mark my page!” 

“Good.” Misty took Cordelia’s purse and stuffed the book into it. “You’re going to hurt your eyes like that. We should dance or something. You could have a drink. They don’t taste half bad.”

“I have to drive us home.”

“Then get us some nachos to share. I’m starved.” Misty could create a very long list of things she preferred over being here, watching the other witches have fun while she hugged the corner with her introverted wife.  _ Honestly, the corner is probably my safe space, too.  _ She had never been one for the bar scene. It was too loud and smelled bad. All of the stimulus overwhelmed her. She never would have come here without Cordelia. “Or we can go act like we’re twenty-one again and dance.”

“I’m taking it that you want to dance, since you mentioned it twice.”

Misty shrugged. “I don’t get to show you off very often. It’d be nice to present you to an audience of people. We could pretend we’re British royals, with many adoring eyes on us as we give a formal ballroom dance.”

Cordelia snorted. “You’re tipsy.” Misty didn’t deny it. “Madison is looking lonely. Go dance with her. I’ll get you some nachos.” As she stood, Misty tried to take her arm to sell her on dancing, but Cordelia gave her a stern look and gingerly shook her off. “Misty,” she implored, “you  _ know _ I’m not a dancer. I’ve got two left feet.” She swatted Misty’s rump. “Go, have fun. Don’t get too drunk, though. I still want to have fun tonight, in private.” The corners of her eyes crinkled, and Misty knew exactly what kind of fun Cordelia wanted. 

Misty headed across the floor to Madison, who was indeed looking miffed that Kyle had upstaged her in dancing with the birthday girl. “Hey, Hollywood.” Madison turned her head to look at Misty. “You’re looking a little sour.” 

“You’re smelling a little damp,” Madison shot back. “What do you want?” 

Misty snorted. “I was going to ask you to dance with me.”

“Oh, because you married the fun equivalent of a wet paper bag?”

Rolling her eyes, Misty kicked her head back. “Delia’s fun, she’s just not a bar scene type of person.”  _ And neither am I.  _ The flashing lights were giving her a headache. “You look bored, anyway, and so am I. At least Delia brought a book.”

“You appreciate her giving herself eyestrain?” Madison cocked out her hip. “Whatever. It’s not like I’m getting any other offers. You would think with what I put in the window, people would be shopping, but it seems I can’t get a lick of attention. Freaks.” Misty offered her an arm and led her out onto the dance floor, resisting the urge to roll her eyes again at Madison’s antics. She would have thought that, by now, Madison would’ve gotten over herself in some ways, but instead, she was the same old snooty bitch and Misty was learning to love her for it. 

Well, other than the occasional fist fight. Any good friendship battle was concluded through them screaming and wailing on each other like a couple of cats while the coven fought to separate them… right?

The music thrummed. Misty hated it. This place was too loud for her, and with the flashing lights, she could only make out the edges of Madison’s silhouette. She kept a hand on Madison’s body so they didn’t get separated in the crowd. The cologne made her eyes sting and throat burn. Somebody’s hand whipped against her rear. She whirled around to reprimand Madison, but instead she was eye-to-eye with a pretty young woman grinning at her. Taking Madison by the wrist, she dragged her to the outskirts of the dance floor. Madison spat and sputtered a protest. “What the hell, Misty? We barely got started!” But the woman followed them from the floor, and Misty found a quieter corner. 

She swept Misty’s frame with her eyes. Misty stepped to the side and tugged Madison directly into the woman’s line of sight.  _ Look at her, not at me! _ she wanted to wail, but the dark eyes kept following her. “Hey,” the woman greeted. She peered over her shoulder and waved somebody over, and another woman approached. “I’m Addison--and this is Cindy.” The second girl was mousy, not nearly as pretty as the first one, but she flashed a smile at Madison.  _ Finally, somebody’s shopping. _ “I really like the way you dance. It’s different.”

“It’s because I’ve never been so uncomfortable before in my entire life,” Misty said loudly. 

Madison nodded. “She’s like a bull in a china shop.” She crossed her arms. “I’m Madison, and this is Misty, since she doesn’t have the decency to introduce herself.”

Cindy cocked her head. “Madison like Montgomery?” Madison inclined her eyebrows. “I thought you looked familiar. I’m a huge fan of yours. Had no idea you were around here, though! Can I get your picture?” 

Having thoroughly had her ego stroked, Madison agreed, and Misty grinned, considering her efforts a success. The three others continued to titter their little words, but she only provided the bare minimum. Cordelia crossed the floor with a box of nachos. “Hey. Sorry it took so long. The line was really long.” 

Addison perked up at the sight of them. “Oh, is this your mom?”

The music had never seemed so quiet. Madison froze mid-sentence. Red hazed across Misty’s vision, and she reached to put an arm around Cordelia’s waist, but her voice was caught somewhere between shock and horror. Cordelia’s mouth was a tiny O. Cindy stopped her little chattering at Madison, realizing the silence that had consumed the conversation, before Madison finally spoke, slow and clear. “This is Cordelia… Misty’s  _ wife. _ ” She scowled at Addison, her hackles raising.  _ Oh, don’t fist fight, don’t fist fight, don’t fist fight.  _ The last thing they needed was for Madison to get them all hurled out of the bar. That would be the  _ only _ thing more humiliating than someone approaching Cordelia and asking if she was Misty’s mom. “Close your trap. You look ridiculous,” Madison griped to Addison and Cindy, who couldn’t stop making fish faces in their horrified shock. 

Cordelia’s knuckles were white where she grasped the box of nachos. Addison closed her jaw with a snap and then cleared her throat. “Right--I am so,  _ so  _ sorry…” 

“Mhm,” Madison hummed, but she wasn’t settling down. “Do you have anything else you want to add? Might as well dig the hole a little deeper while you’re at it.”  _ She’s looking for a fight. _ Misty touched the inside of Madison’s elbow. Madison glanced at her. Misty shook her head.  _ Don’t, _ she willed. Madison raised her eyebrows in acknowledgement. “Well, we’re going to  _ go _ , but feel free to follow up if you’d like to assail another one of us.”

“Madison,” Cordelia whispered.

“She’s in a mood to hit something,” Misty shushed Cordelia. “Let her do her thing.” Turning on her heel, Madison stormed out of the front of the bar, and Misty and Cordelia looked at one another, following her outside. It took a few minutes for Queenie and Nan to follow them with Kyle, who was carrying a wasted Zoe. 

The car was silent as death. “Is anybody gonna tell us why everybody suddenly stormed out of the bar?” Queenie asked. 

Madison held the butt of her cigarette to the cracked window. “No.” 

“I wasn’t have a very good time, anyway,” said Nan, and Kyle grunted his agreement. Zoe had fallen asleep in his lap. Nan hesitated, and then she told Madison, “But I’m glad you didn’t punch her.”

“I really wanted to punch her.”

“We are collectively agreeing that not punching her was the better decision,” Cordelia interrupted. “We don’t punch people for asking innocent questions.”

“Oh, please!” Madison snapped. “She was trying to get under your skin. It’s like when you go up to a fat person and ask them how far along they are with the baby. She wanted to aggravate Misty, that’s all.”

Queenie was incredulous. “Did somebody ask Misty if she was pregnant?” 

“No.” Madison took a long drag on the cigarette. 

“Somebody asked Misty if Cordelia was her mom,” Nan told Queenie.

“Do we have to keep repeating it?” Misty begged. Her eyes darted over to Cordelia, who was stone-faced, but her eyes betrayed a much darker turmoil of emotions inside of her. Misty didn’t want to do anything to irritate that until she had Cordelia in private. “Nobody got punched. Let’s just let it go.” 

They did let it go, but the silence was even more uncomfortable as they filed into the house. Cordelia walked faster than Misty, her arms flat to her sides, and Misty didn’t try to catch up to her to take her hand for fear of the volatile reaction that could ensue. She followed Cordelia into their bedroom and closed the door behind her, locking it with a final  _ click _ . “Do you still want to have fun tonight?” she asked hopefully. 

A sad sigh left Cordelia’s nose. “No.” She sat on the bed and slipped off her cute heels. She untangled the straps to her own dress--something Misty had looked forward to doing herself, but she didn’t try to change Cordelia’s mind now. She kept her back to Misty, hunched over, like she was afraid to show herself to Misty. 

A small part of Misty’s heart chipped off. She slipped out of her boots and removed her dress, and she walked around to Cordelia’s side of the bed in her slip and her underwear, sitting beside her. “Just talk to me.” She regarded Cordelia with pleading blue eyes. “What’s the matter?” 

Cordelia didn’t make eye contact with her. “I’m just insecure.” 

“Well, I’m very secure.” Misty hugged Cordelia with one arm around her back and kissed her cheek. “So I think I’ve got enough for both of us.” A slight blush rose to Cordelia’s cheeks, but she didn’t yet look at Misty. “What do you say?” Misty probed. 

One of Cordelia’s small hands rested over Misty’s. “I just--wonder if you could’ve done better, sometimes.” 

“You know before you, I was married to my own right hand. I think I did pretty good for myself.” 

“You’re beautiful, Misty. You could’ve had any number of girls who looked like her.”

“But I love the woman who looks like you. And no number of girls who look like her can ever change that.” Misty rested her head on Cordelia’s shoulder. “I think Madison was right. I think she just wanted to irritate us. Make us argue about it.” 

Cordelia paused. “You think so?” 

“Yeah. I think so. Nobody would go out with their mom if she was dressed the way you were dressed. I wanted to see as much of you as I could. If my mama wore that dress, I'd just about die of embarrassment." 

Cordelia chuckled and swatted her playfully. “You stop.” 

Misty reached out her hands to Cordelia and tickled her, rolling her across the bed. “Make me!” 

Very quickly, Cordelia changed her mind, and they ended up having fun, after all. 


End file.
